24.10.07

Ruins

Ruins is a very, very strange drum and bass duo from Japan. The duo released Refusal Fossil way back in May on Skin Graft Records (the guys who brought us AIDS WOLF, Pre, and many, many more). It's a bizarre record to say the least.

Okay, so Ruins came to life way back in 1985 or so. Tatsuya Yoshida -- a big-time Japanese underground drummer who also lends his talents to Acid Mothers Temple along with at least one thousands other prog/punk/experimental groups -- formed the band with the intention of it being a trio, but unfortunately the guitarist never showed and so he foraged on with the bass player as a rhythm-only band. When I say "rhythm only," I really mean it. These guys play real heavy, dense, and oftentimes incredibly speedy prog/metal (depending on how you look at it) fused with punk.Or something.

Tatsuya has remained the drummer for the past twenty-two years (he even showed up at CMJ this year!), but he's gone through a handful of bassists. I think he blew out their ear sockets or something ... rendered them unable to perform any more.